As soon as the day dawned, milky white mist shrouded the Sui army camp like tassels, and also shrouded the fields and woods on both sides of Pengze Lake, at this time, a large group of Tang army soldiers appeared in a forest about 100 steps away from the northeast corner of the Sui army camp. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The main general, Shi Huaiyi, rode on the war horse, looking at the Sui army camp through the thick fog, the Sui army camp was extremely deserted, there were no soldiers on the two guard towers, and through the gate, the camp could not see the unique steaming scene of the military camp in the early morning.

Shi Huaiyi had a trace of doubt in his heart, what he saw was an abandoned military camp, could it be that the soldiers of the Sui Army had completely gone?

"General, what should I do?" Several generals asked in a low voice.

Shi Huaiyi gritted his teeth and ordered: "Kill in!" ”

With a shout, three thousand soldiers rushed out of the woods and killed the Sui army camp, they slammed open the gate and rushed into the Sui army camp.

There were not tents in the Sui army camp, but pieces of brick houses, but the Tang army rushed to the lake, and still could not see a single Sui army soldier, and the Sui army camp covering an area of thousands of acres turned out to be an empty camp.

Shi Huaiyi felt bad in his heart, he ran to the lake and looked at the dock, he imagined that there should be some warships and hundreds of cargo ships moored on the dock, but there was only an empty water in front of him, and there was not a single warship or cargo ship.

Shi Huaiyi already realized something, and he shouted: "Follow me to the warehouse!" ”

He turned his horse's head and led thousands of Tang soldiers to the warehouse group several miles away.......

Li Xiaogong's 20,000 troops arrived at the Sui army camp in Pengze Lake only half a day later than Shi Huaiyi, and the army was still one mile away from the Sui army camp. ”

Li Xiaogong was shocked and asked urgently, "What happened?" ”

"Your Highness, the Sui army camp is already an empty camp, all the soldiers and officials have been evacuated, and there is not a single ship on the dock, so we have found nothing."

"Is the grain still in the warehouse?"

Shi Huaiyi smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, there is nothing in the warehouse, and you can't even find a single moldy grain of rice on the ground. ”

"What!"

Li Xiaogong shouted: "What's going on? ”

Shi Huaiyi turned around, "Bring it up!" ”

Several soldiers escorted a white-haired old man, and Shi Huaiyi said: "This is an old beggar caught in the warehouse, he has been hiding in the warehouse for almost a year, and His Highness will know if he asks." ”

The old man was so frightened that he knelt down and kowtowed, "Spare your life!" ”

Li Xiaogong pointed with a horsewhip and asked, "Where is the grain in the warehouse?" ”

The old man trembled and said: "General, there has never been any food in the warehouse, and it is empty and locked up there after repair, and there is no one to guard it, and every warehouse is inhabited by beggars, and everyone fled back to the county seat when the army withdrew yesterday, and I am the only one who did not return to the county seat because of my old age and frailty." ”

Li Xiaogong was dumbfounded when he heard this, and he took out the deployment map of the navy from his arms, which clearly stated that there were 302,600 stone of grain in stock, 443 cargo ships, and 3 transoceanic boats.

He asked anxiously: "Is there a cargo ship in the lake, a big one of those kinds?" ”

"Did the general mean the transverse boat?"

"Yes! Do you have? ”

The old man thought for a while and said in a low voice: "Once before last, we went to the river to see a lot, but we never saw it again, there was never a transoceanic boat in the lake, there were only warships in the lake, they all left a few days ago, I haven't seen any cargo ships." ”

Li Xiaogong couldn't say a word for a long time, there was a problem with the deployment map of the naval army that they had worked so hard to get, where was the good food?

"Your Highness, the warehouse of the barracks has also been seen, all the food and materials have been transported, and nothing is left."

Li Xiaogong suddenly realized that the problem was serious, they had a strategic miscalculation, there were not enough means of transportation, it was difficult to guarantee the transportation of grain, and the Eastern Expedition was lame first, but what made Li Xiaogong even more uneasy was that the Sui army transported all the materials away, obviously not a coincidence, it is likely that the Sui Army already knew that they were going to the East, and he had to report this matter to the Son of Heaven, if it was not investigated, I am afraid they would suffer greater losses.

"General, what are we going to do?" Shi Huaiyi asked in a low voice.

Li Xiaogong thought for a while and said, "The whole army is going south and retreating to Poyang County!" ”

Since Pengze County couldn't get what they wanted, they had no choice but to retreat south first and occupy important cities to wait and see what happened.

The 20,000-strong army abandoned the Sui army camp in Pengze County and began to turn around and drive towards Poyang County to the south.

.........

Because Baling County is close to the Yangtze River, the city is tall and wide, and all kinds of facilities are complete, so it replaced Jiangling City and became the logistics center of the Tang Army's Eastern Expedition.

The city stored 300,000 stone grain, more than 100,000 sets of armor, bows, crossbows, arrows, tents, blankets, war drums, flags and a large number of military supplies, in addition, Baling City also had 400 captured cargo ships, used to transport food and armor for the Tang army.

At present, there are 10,000 Tang troops stationed in Baling City, led by the general Qin Wutong, and 30,000 people recruited from various counties are also temporarily stationed in the city, making the city a little chaotic.

However, Baling County is also a prosperous commercial city, it is located at the confluence of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, the materials transported from the southern counties are transferred here, and a large number of merchants make a living here, so that the city is full of shops, dozens of large and small commercial houses, wine shops, inns, brothels can be seen everywhere, showing a vibrant scene.

However, since the Tang army launched the Eastern Crusade, Baling County has also strengthened its control over the county seat, generally only allowed to go out of the city and not allowed to enter the city, only open the south gate for one hour every morning, and allow farmers outside the city to sell vegetables on both sides of the city gate for an hour under the supervision of soldiers, and then leave.

In addition, the Tang army imposed a strict curfew at night, and no pedestrians were allowed to go on the streets after dark, and if the curfew was violated, no matter who was violated, they would be punished with ten days of detention in the dungeon.

In the early morning of this day, the sky was just dawning, the south gate was still open as before, and more than 100 vegetable farmers who had been waiting outside the city poured in, they carried baskets, pushed carts, ran to the wall as fast as possible to occupy their seats, and began to set up stalls to sell vegetables, and after an hour, everyone would be driven out of the city, so for them time is money.

There are also hundreds of county residents waiting in the city to buy vegetables, most of them housewives, so when the vegetable stalls are set up, they also rush forward and start picking vegetables around each vegetable stall and bargaining.

More than two dozen soldiers patrolled back and forth in front of the vegetable stalls with knives on their shoulders, keeping an eye on every vegetable seller.

Among the dozens of vegetable farmers in the west, there is a young man who sells eggs, he is very thin, he will carry a basket of eggs to the city almost every day to sell, his business is very good, he will be sold out in a short time, he will be the first to leave the county seat, the soldiers who defend the city also know him, and many soldiers secretly come to buy a few eggs.

At this time, a very obscene-looking middle-aged man slowly stepped forward and asked, "Are there any wild goose eggs for sale today?" ”

The young man who sold eggs glanced at him and shook his head impatiently, "I only have eggs and duck eggs, not birds' eggs." ”

"Twenty eggs, then!"

The young man put twenty eggs into a straw bag and handed them to the other party, "The last twenty-five eggs, old customer, count you two hundred dollars!" ”

The middle-aged man took out two strings of money and handed them to him, took the straw bag and turned away, and the young man who bought eggs also cleaned up the stall, left the county seat with a bamboo basket full of money, and rode away on a donkey tied to the outside of the city.

Many soldiers know the middle-aged man who buys eggs, know that his surname is Wang, is the shopkeeper of the Chengnan Liquor Shop, the Chengnan Liquor Store is a small liquor shop, only more than 50 steps away from the city gate, because the market entrance is better, the business is not bad, the proprietor of the liquor store also opens an inn next door, called the Chengnan Inn, and all meals and accommodations are included.

Because the wine shop is too close to the city gate, many soldiers will look for an opportunity to secretly buy a bowl of wine, everyone is very familiar with this obscene wine shop shopkeeper, knowing that his surname is Wang, a brigade commander also secretly smiled at him: "A few of our brothers are on duty tonight, and the king shopkeeper will prepare more wine!" ”

"Don't worry! How much and how much to have. ”

The shopkeeper took the straw bag and slowly swallowed it back, he walked into the wine shop, took a pot of wine, and went out through the back door of the wine shop, and entered the inn next door, which he was also in charge of, and he went to a room at the end of the second floor and knocked on the door.

A screeching voice came from the room, "Damn, did you bring me wine?" (To be continued.) )